Melissa Cobb, most recently Chief Creative Officer and Head of Studio for Oriental DreamWorks, has joined Netflix as Vice President, Kids and Family. She has been tasked with overseeing the creation and acquisition of series and films for children and families, reporting to Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos.

Expanding Netflix’s Kids & Family portfolio has been a priority for Netflix, which has been ramping up kids animated and live-action series development. DreamWorks Animation’s original series based on the company’s movie titles, such as Trollhunters and Puss In Boots, have long been cornerstones of Netflix’s kids animation slate. Prior to joining Oriental DreamWorks, Cobb served as a Producer at DreamWorks Animation on the feature side where she worked on the Kung Fu Panda film trilogy.

“Melissa brings a wealth of experience creating and overseeing series and feature films that resonate with kids and families across the globe. No matter where they live, our members find tremendous enjoyment in our kids and family content, and I couldn’t be happier to have Melissa on board to continue expanding into new and exciting areas,” said Sarandos.

Netflix’s Kids & Family division has a high-profile animated series coming up, the revival of children’s classic Magic School Bus. It’s also making strides in live-action series with Alexa & Katie and Free Rein.

“I’m so excited to begin this next chapter with Netflix. Given the creative freedom offered here and the global audience, there’s a huge opportunity for talented creatives across the industry to create the world’s best kids and family series and features for Netflix,” said Cobb. “My goal for this team is to offer a diverse slate of great, powerful and timeless family entertainment with global appeal, and to be creator and talent friendly, while striving for the highest quality in everything we do.”

Based in Shanghai, China, as CCO of Oriental DreamWorks Cobb oversaw all aspects of running the studio and U.S./China collaboration. She insured the green light of a first feature, Everest, slated for a global release in fall 2019 with Universal.

Her resume also includes stints at 20th Century Fox Feature Animation where she worked to put into production the animated Titan A.E. and the live-action Drew Barrymore hit feature film Ever After, and Walt Disney Pictures where she was responsible for discovering and developing live- action titles for the company, including Blank Check, Steven Sommers’ The Jungle Book, and Man of the House, starring Chevy Chase.